Pollock starts Sept. 1 to head surgery for the James, which will grow to 276 beds and 14 dedicated cancer-specific operating rooms in the new tower. There are six such rooms in the current James facility and its surgeons also use five to six older operating suites in the medical center’s main University Hospital for now.

Pollock is “one of the most eminent cancer surgeons in the world,” Caligiuri said.

He is considered the leading clinician in operating on a certain type of cancer – soft-tissue sarcoma. Because he’s coming, others from MD Anderson in fields such as pathology and neurological oncology now are interested in Ohio State, Caligiuri said.

Pollock said the main reason Ohio State won his services over four other leading cancer hospitals was the surgical leadership role. The others, he said, wanted him to focus mainly on his technical proficiency in sarcoma.

A new hospital specifically designed for cancer care also was “very important,” he said.

He’ll have lab space in the Biomedical Research Tower, too.

“The way we deliver cancer care is changing so rapidly that many structures now are already outdated,” Pollock said.

One thing Pollock likes about the hospitals dates to the James’ opening in 1990: “It was very appealing to me that the cancer center physical plant was smack dab in the center of the campus itself,” he said.

Few freestanding cancer centers are near their parent universities: MD Anderson is 170 miles from the University of Texas. The James’ location proves a commitment to interdisciplinary research, he said.

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